Former business tycoon Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India on loan defaults worth Rs 9,000 crores, today claimed that he has "enough evidence" to plead his case as he appeared before Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Vijay Mallya today claimed that he has “enough evidence” to plead his case as he appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court to hear the arguments for and against his extradition. (Image: Reuters)

Former business tycoon Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India on loan defaults worth Rs 9,000 crores, today claimed that he has “enough evidence” to plead his case as he appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court to find out the timetable to be set by the judge to hear the arguments for and against his extradition in what is referred to as a “case management hearing”.

“I have not alluded any court…I have enough evidence to prove my case,” Mallya told reporters outside the court.

Mallya has been in the UK since March 2016 and was arrested by Scotland Yard on an extradition warrant on April 18. He had attended a central London police station for his arrest and was released on conditional bail a few hours later, after furnishing a bail bond worth 650,000 pounds, assuring the court of abiding by all conditions associated with extradition proceedings, such as the surrender of his passport and a ban on him possessing any travel documents.

If the District Judge rules in favour of extradition at the end of the trial, the UK home secretary must order Mallya’s extradition within two months of the appropriate day. However, the case can go through a series of appeals before arriving at a conclusion.

Although India and the UK have an Extradition Treaty, signed in 1992, so far only one extradition has taken place under the arrangement – Samirbhai Vinubhai Patel, who was sent back to India last October to face trial in connection with his involvement in the post-Godhra riots of 2002. However, unlike Mallya, he had submitted to the extradition order without legal challenge.